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Ad Giant Unilever Fights Back Against Fake Followers and Bots

Unilever, the world's second largest advertising company, has decided to let go of some of their social media promoters in order to boost transparency and authenticity.

[bctt tweet="Ad giant #Unilever cuts ties with social media influencers who buy their followers. Read on for more details... #influencermarketing" username="relevance"]

Hundreds of brands currently partner with social and digital media influencers to promote their content and, although these partnerships can be a mutually beneficial marketing method, some influencers have taken it upon themselves to enhance their audience numbers by buying followers on social media.

The goal behind this shady practice is to seem more appealing to companies that are willing to pay influencers thousands, or even millions, to promote their branded messages. In a statement given to Reuters, Unilever Chief Marketing Officer Keith Weed says,

“Trust comes on foot and leaves on horseback, and we could very quickly see the whole influencer space be undermined. There are lots of great influencers out there, but there are a few bad apples spoiling the barrel and the trouble is, everyone goes down once the trust is undermined.”

Keith Weed pledged yesterday that the company will stop working with digital media influencers who buy followers. Unilever is also prioritizing social media platforms that fight back against scams.

Back in February, Unilever also made headlines for threatening to cut ties with Facebook and Google if they did not make efforts to improve transparency and get rid of ‘fake news’ bogging down their platforms.

Fake Influencers Put Influencer Marketing at Risk

Influencer marketing has turned into a billion dollar industry and some of the biggest brands in the world have used digital celebrities, Youtubers, and other influencers to make content about their products or services.

However, like with any fast-growing market, toxicity has managed to find its way in. If allowed to continue, fake influencers can tarnish this marketing method and discourage brands from working with influencers.

The fake followers that influencers buy are usually bots; machine-generated profiles who automatically like, comment, or share posts under the guise of true engagement.

These fake bots hurt brands who are essentially paying money to get content in front of people who don’t exist. It also makes it exceedingly difficult for marketers to measure true impressions engagement, or success rates of an influencer marketing campaign. This could lead to poor return on digital investment and it could position the company, instead of the influencer, in a bad light.

This is why it is so important for brands to be cautious about which influencers they choose to promote their content.

According to Reuters, Peter Storck, co-founder of influencer marketing measurement firm Points North Group, says Unilever, as well as other companies, have “fallen prey” to fake influencers and bots.

Weed has not said how much Unilever paid its influencers and that it doesn’t have a “major issue” with fake followers after getting rid of the troublemakers.

Have you used influencer marketing? If so, what have you done to curb fake influencers? Continue the conversation in the comments.

You probably heard about the hot water Facebook is in. The eyebrows raised over the way Cambridge Analytica and Facebook used consumer data is a definite red flag for everyone on social media. However, there may be a savior for social media via blockchain technology.

Facebook is the most widely used social media network with over two billion monthly active users. The social media giant is also in trouble for mishandling millions of users’ consumer data.

Consumer data was often collected like this . . .

The unsavory attention Facebook is getting has caused the company to make some big changes in the way it does business. These changes are ultimately causing issues for content marketers.

Changes to how data is used and privacy policies affecting marketers and businesses that leverage social media include:

These new policies may alter the very fabric of social media. It is also a blow to content marketers who use Facebook to target consumers via ads.

Won’t New Social Media Policies Favor Users?

The troubling news of how Facebook misused user data has caused a stir in the digital marketing space. The big question is can social media be saved? Well, chances are, people will continue to use social media.

Social media networks like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and other social channels allow people to connect with friends, family, topics, and issues they care about. This is what makes social media so powerful.

With little surprise, the changes to social media policies after the Facebook situation had severe consequences for marketers. For example, cost per thousand impressions (CPM) has skyrocketed to 77 percent as impressions drop significantly.

Problems for users are also possible. In theory, many would think that stricter user data privacy policies would return power to users. Not really.

Yes, there are benefits for consumers, but social users may also be bombarded with a slew of non-targeted ads under new policies. This could also open up consumers to more malware attacks via ads.

Is there a solution? Can social media be saved in a way that benefits both consumers and marketers? The answer to both is absolutely. Enter blockchain technology and decentralization.

How Blockchain Technology Will Save Social Media for Consumers and Marketers

The relationship between blockchain technology and social media is nothing new. In fact, much of blockchain and cryptocurrency popularity can be attributed to social media through networks and forums.

Ironically, the technology social media helped reach the masses will be the technology to save it. How? The obstacles social media is struggling with can be overcome using blockchain technology.

Blockchain technology can return control of personal data and browsing history to users while still allowing marketers to still deliver targeted ads. It is a win-win way to ensure debacles lie the one Facebook is currently recovering from will never happen again.

What is the catalyst blockchain technology serves up that social media is in desperate need of? Decentralization! Here are a few ways decentralizing social media will make the difference.

1. Transparent Open Source Social Networks

Many consumers have got a bad taste in their mouth when it comes to centralized institutions. Facebook, Twitter, and Google are networks that can be censored by the government and have algorithm biases in place to direct consumers toward the content they consume.

However, blockchain technology is all about decentralization. It will take out the centralized bias and oversight, thus returning social networks to peer-to-peer interactions. This will make social channels open source and highly transparent.

Steemit is a good example of a decentralized social platform where people can share content via peer-to-peer interactions.

2. Fraud Free Advertising and BAT

Marketers are simply not getting the ROI on ads anymore. Why? Middlemen are selling off inaccurate user data. Marketers are also not the only ones getting middleman consumer data either, so are online scammers.

This has caused a lot of fraudulent ads and malware attacks on consumers. These attacks have led to the rise of ad blockers and other online safety measures, because consumers no longer trust the ads they get.

Blockchain technology can change this. By cutting out the middlemen, users regain control of their browsing data. Marketers can then ask consumers if they would like to share their data with them in return for cryptocurrency like the Basic Attention Token (BAT).

Contrary to what many would think, BAT is good for marketers. Instead of getting inaccurate consumer data from middlemen, they no get data straight from people interested in the products and services they are delivering ads on.

This leads to better ROI for marketers, and less chance of fraud and malware attacks for online consumers.

3. Better Influencer Marketing

Cutting out the middlemen, marketers can decrease operation costs. Where can you invest this saved marketing money? Influencers. You can save on influencer marketing by cutting out middlemen here too. For instance, influencer manager or agency fees can be as high as 30 percent per ad campaign.

Using blockchain technology and its decentralized protocols, you can analyze the true value of influencers as well. From micro-influencers to celebrities, blockchain verification protocols make vetting influencers accurate and easy.

This allows marketers to pinpoint what influencers have the biggest ROI potential, and ensure that the audience they are appealing to is real and not social bots.

Building Better Social Networks with Blockchain Technology

There are plenty of upsides to decentralizing social media. Not only will user data be managed and used better, marketers can get a clearer picture of consumer behavior. This can lead to increased trust via transparency, better influencer marketing campaigns, and most importantly, increased ROI. How can blockchain technology help your social media marketing game?

The world of digital tools for business growth used to evolve every decade. Now, the renewal interval is less than a few years, and AI seems to be grabbing all the attention. It has surpassed marketing automation platforms (MAP) and social media management (SMM). In fact, AI will not only replace but enhance these already established directions with new approaches.

The ability to give machines human-like skills is scary and tempting, but in fact, it should be regarded as a simple and useful tool. We are still a long way from fully autonomous intelligence. Yet, marketers can take full advantage of the options offered by AI which include building detailed buyer personas, creating fine-tuned recommendation engines, evaluating competition in real-time and managing heaps of content.

Harnessing the Power of Social Media Analytics

AI is an encompassing term for multiple algorithms which feed on data and try to mimic the reasoning of humans. The approach is iterative, and the machine learns from mistakes and corrective actions, much like children do. Pairing AI with data from social media is a natural approach. The platforms offer massive amounts of data, and the algorithms dig into the information to create actionable patterns. Marketers and managers can use results to improve their strategies and directly impact revenue. We will further discuss a few examples of AI-powered social media analytics.

Competitor Analysis

You can think of AI as an industry spy that gives you feedback in real time. Some algorithms are able to identify which content is sponsored on social media platforms by your competitors. This is almost like having direct access to their strategy. Knowing what they do allows you to either take the same approach or try something completely different.  Track their keywords and learn from their mistakes.

At the same time, you can compare your own content’s performance against the competition. AI can offer you an overview of how you measure on the markets you are trying to conquer and also give you hints. The insights could be related to the type of content used, the promotional budgets or even the response time of the customer service. By comparing your scores to industry leaders, you can also learn from the best and create targets.

Content Management

Content is still king, but selecting between diamonds and garbage is becoming increasingly hard due to volume. Enter the slack bots. You can ask yourself if your ideas have already been implemented by a competitor, in which way, and check if it was successful.

You can also verify if there are knowledge gaps in your competitors’ strategies and fill those whitespaces with relevant content to attract clients.

The work to keep up with scheduling content, creating editorial calendars and maintaining a list of past and future topics can all be left to AI. The significant advantage is that considering emerging content from competitors, the calendars can be dynamically reconfigured to reflect interest changes from clients.

Chatbot Customer Service

The tendency to replace call center agents with chatbots is becoming more apparent every day. This is driven partly by cost concerns and also by the users’ preference to interact with brands via text messages instead of calls or e-mails.

Right now, chatbots are still in their infancy, but through AI’s development, they will become more human-like. Some companies have already implemented text analysis solutions to enhance information extraction, categorization, and semantic search. All these features help chatbots identify what the user intends to say even if they are not speaking in complete phrases.

Buyer Personas

The volume of data created daily on social media is a challenge and an opportunity for marketing professionals. On one side, it could lead to information overload and make specialists wonder what is essential. On the other, correctly interpreted, it can help create very life-like buyer personas, taking client segmentation a step further. These models can be used to identify potential brand ambassadors or target marketing campaigns with excellent accuracy, thus saving money. In fact, studies show a revenue increase of 171% when using AI-generated personas.

Increased Personalization and Recommendations

The buyer personas are just the first step in reaching your ideal audience. Those are still at a general level. The real insights of social media can give you hints about what will trigger individual responses. Learning from Amazon’s tactics to recommend products that fit the user’s general profile combined with their purchase history, your company can replicate this tactic.

The real gain from such a granular level is to be able to create almost real-time campaigns targeted at very specific groups with high success rates. It is nearly mind-reading from the breadcrumbs they leave online.

Privacy Concerns

The latest scandal from Cambridge Analytica shows that mining social media data for insights can cross some privacy borders. Even if the data harvesting methods can’t be classified as hacking, it is still unethical and dangerous to use social media information without getting the consent of those involved.

There is a fine line between serving the clients’ best interest by presenting them with relevant content that also helps brands sell more and using the data for other purposes.

Success Stories

Top organizations have already understood the benefits that AI can bring and how it can be used to get them to a higher level.

The Dutch company KLM is a pioneer. They automated the answers to the most common questions that came through their customer service apps spread over three social media channels, Twitter, Facebook, and WhatsApp. Through semantic analysis, they identified the most frequent requests and created canned answers. Even so, the system does not operate independently, but it is still coordinated by humans who decide the appropriateness of each response. The system learns and becomes better with each interaction.

Another good example comes from LinkedIn who acquired Bright.com to use their job-matching algorithms for candidates. The goal was to offer better opportunities to job seekers and less ballast to companies in a hurry to hire.

Every business online must have an effective marketing strategy that focuses on SEO and social media management. This marketing strategy needs time and planning. Search engine optimization helps you get the visibility you deserve for your business brand. However, it is expensive for some small to medium scale business owners who have a limited budget to spend on professional SEO professionals and companies.

Understanding the importance of SEO and social media integration for your business

SEO is a vast area, and as a business owner, it is not possible for you to learn it on your own. You might know of SEO; however, the field is so dynamic with a large number of frequent changes and updates taking place that it becomes hard for you to keep track of them. Moreover, as a business owner, it is vital for you to pay attention to all the areas of your business so that nothing is overlooked or neglected. Now, when it comes to affordable search engine optimization techniques, social media is a boon. Though it does not directly influence search engine optimization for your business, it does play a crucial role in attracting traffic and establishing a brand presence in the market for your business.

The need for an effective SEO and social media marketing strategy for your business

No matter how large or small your business might be, it is prudent for you to create a well-planned marketing strategy that integrates SEO and social media. The most popular social media platforms for your brand today are Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and LinkedIn. These platforms are doing quite well in the online market. However, when you are creating a marketing strategy that integrates both social media and SEO, remember that every social media platform is unique and different. You, as a business owner, should be aware of their differences so that you can include the correct points in your strategy to make a positive difference in your business.

Tips to make your marketing strategy work

Once you have decided to create an effective marketing strategy for your business, the next step is to know your targeted audience. Remember the social media market is home to millions of people. This means you effectively can reach out to them with the correct marketing strategies and techniques. Knowing your targeted audience preferences and tastes help. Many business owners get lost when it comes to social media marketing. They do not narrow down the options and do the research they should.

1. Take the aid of professional companies if you are new to SEO and social media

If you are new to the idea of SEO and social media integration for your business, it is wise to hire an experienced and professional digital marketing agency in the field to help you out. The experts of the agency will create a unique SEO and social media strategy that is customized to meet the needs of your business. This helps you to understand the levels of integration better and how you can utilize them for the growth and development of your business. Yes, the process does take time. The agency will help you understand the techniques better with frequent evaluation of performance and daily reports. In this way with the passage of time, you will find the search engine ranks of your business rising and the volume of inbound traffic for your business increases.

2. Network

When you are creating a strategy for SEO and social media management, research on your targeted audience and market them the products and services they would be interested in. Many businesses make the mistake of adding everyone on their list. They do not bother to research about their targeted customer, and this is why they fail to achieve the desired sales targets. The key here is not to add everyone to your marketing strategy. Check your targeted audience and market the goods and services they are looking for. This helps you get better lead conversions. Customer engagement and interaction is the need of the day and needed for your business success. This is why you must ensure that you are proactive and responsive to comments and feedback that your network leaves on your social media profiles. Use analytics and see how your posts are performing. The search should be aimed at the perfect people be it age, location, tastes, etc.

3. Fresh Ideas

Yes, it is crucial for you always to create fresh ideas for your targeted audience. No one likes stale posts, and this is why you should take the onus of updating your profile on a regular basis. You can also post events that are going on across the world. Just because you are dealing with a specific product does not mean you cannot post on events. Ensure the events you post are not biased or controversial. Stick to general events that will keep your audience engaged.

4. Connections and conversations

It is crucial for you to create connections and conversations for your business page and profile. This helps you stay connected and in touch with people. When you make an effort to engage in conversation with your targeted audience, you develop a sense of authenticity to your brand. You can go the extra mile and ask your customers for feedback on your products and services. This gesture will help you understand how your business is being accepted. Moreover, customer feedback and suggestions will largely help you to make improvements to your existing products and services. When your customers feel appreciated and wanted, they become loyal customers. They later go on to become brand ambassadors for your business. This increases your goodwill in the market and improves your brand visibility as well. Invoking trust and confidence in your present customers help you to get more potential customers in the future.

Therefore, when you are looking for SEO and social media management, keep the above tips in mind as they will help you reach out to the targeted audience better and increase returns on investment and brand visibility in the market!

Both consumers and brands alike are using social media platforms to consume and create videos at a staggering rate. According to Cisco, a million minutes of video will be moving across the internet every second by 2021. It's clear that if your brand doesn't start incorporating video in some way, you'll be left behind. Let's take a look at why video has become an essential part of social media. 

Marketing Trends Mimic User Trends 

The reason a video marketing strategy is suddenly so important is simple: Successful digital marketing meets users where they are. Email marketing, for example, came about when email exploded as a feature within the daily lives of most internet users. The same thing is happening with video marketing. A study by Digital Information World shows 55 percent of social media users watch video daily. Furthermore, video will account for over 80 percent of all internet traffic by 2019.

There is a good chance competitors in your niche are already using video to reach consumers. Giving the consumer what they want is an essential part of any marketing campaign, and today’s consumer wants video.

Video Provides a Higher ROI than Other Content Formats 

Given the popularity of video among the average user, it is no surprise brands are getting a higher ROI out of their video marketing strategy than other strategies in their marketing mix. Statistics like the following prove why video is essential for social media marketing: 

Many companies use videos to explain features and benefits of their products or services. Rather than depending on a salesperson to get this information in-store, users get it directly from the company—and instantly. Most consumers today compare brands and products before making a purchase. Giving as much information to the consumer, in easy to consume packaging like videos seems like a no-brainer.

Most social media sites—YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram—offer brands the option to ‘go live.’ Live Streaming is revolutionizing the way we create and consume content. All platforms allow brands and consumers to engage in real time, and creators can’t edit out mistakes. This vulnerability goes a long way in establishing trust with the consumer.

Brands are also able to give a behind-the-scenes look to consumers, creating relationships like never before.

Expiring Video Allows You to Build Trust Through ‘Behind-the-Scenes’ Content 

Today’s social media user is all about creating and consuming expiring content. Snapchat generates an average of 10 billion video views daily. Direct messages on the platform expire after two views, while posts to a user’s story expire after 24 hours. Instagram has copied this format for their version of the story feature.

A lot of brands are using expiring video to give behind-the-scenes peaks into the inner workings of their brand. For some, this means letting employees take over the company Snapchat or Instagram to showcase what their typical day looks like. Other brands use expiring video to show a product’s production process.

Now that you understand why video is essential for social media marketing, brainstorm some ways you can use these forms of video to build your own video marketing strategy.

 

It’s quite common for me to be asked which social media management and reporting tools I recommend outside the two or three everyone knows, but it’s not always easy to remember ten or more tools off the top of your head.

As a result, I’ve put this list together of vendors I’ve come in contact with to reference from this point forward.

This list should prove a valuable reference for the readers, too. Each vendor represented below helps brands, agencies and marketers scale, schedule and report on social media.

1. Zoho Social

Gives publishing access to Google+, LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. Provides for real-time listening, team collaboration and measurement.

11 Great Social Media Management and Reporting Tools to Consider | Social Media Today

2. Sprout Social

Allows publishers to plan, organize, manage and measure social content on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and Google+. Allows for team collaboration.

11 Great Social Media Management and Reporting Tools to Consider | Social Media Today

 

3. Social Report

Robust publishing, team management, listening, automation, analytics and custom reporting functionality. It boasts the most connectivity of any of the tools on this list – Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Reddit, Google+, YouTube, Digg, Vimeo, Tripadvisor, Xing, eBay, Shopify, Etsy, Spotify, Klout, AddThis, SlideShare, Last.fm, Soundcloud, Foursquare, Meetup, Blogger, Tumblr, WordPress, Yelp, Yahoo Local, CityGrid, Google Analytics, and a host of email marketing tools and link shorteners.

11 Great Social Media Management and Reporting Tools to Consider | Social Media Today

 

4. SocialBakers

Provides for publishing, measurement, monitoring, reporting and optimization of social communication. Taps into Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Pinterest and Instagram.

11 Great Social Media Management and Reporting Tools to Consider | Social Media Today

 

5. Sendible

Self-identified as a unified social inbox for each brand, this tool provides for publishing, collaboration, reporting, and monitoring. Connects to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Google+, Google My Business, YouTube, Blogger and WordPress.

11 Great Social Media Management and Reporting Tools to Consider | Social Media Today

 

6. Tailwind

This tool focuses on Pinterest and Instagram exclusively. It enables scheduling, monitoring, content management and contests.

11 Great Social Media Management and Reporting Tools to Consider | Social Media Today

 

7. Oktopost

Touted as a B2B-specific social media management tool, its functionality includes publishing, reporting, curation, monitoring and collaboration. It connects with Bit.ly and many marketing automation suites. Integrates with Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and Google+.

11 Great Social Media Management and Reporting Tools to Consider | Social Media Today

 

8. MeetEdgar

Posts to LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook. Offers social media scheduling via RSS feeds.

11 Great Social Media Management and Reporting Tools to Consider | Social Media Today

 

9. Hootsuite

This is a scheduling, curation, measurement and monitoring tool. It supports Twitter, Facebook, Google+, WordPress, Instagram, Pinterest and YouTube.

Screenshot from popular marketing tool Hootsuite

 

10. Buffer

Schedules, reports and publishes content for brands. It supports Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest and Google+.

Screenshot from popular marketing tool Buffer

 

11. Agorapulse

Supports Google+, YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook. Allows for publishing, engagement, listening, reporting and team collaboration.

Screenshot from Agorapulse, a popular tool for marketing

 

The above is a list of social media management and reporting tools that I’ve ran into over my career. Pricing can vary greatly between them - for some of the more expensive ones, I haven’t been able to align features with their bloated cost, meaning much of the same functionality is available for much cheaper via some of the other vendors. As a result, I recommend you demo at least three before making a decision.

Whether you’re a brand, agency or small business owner, these tools will help save time, energy and effort when implementing and executing a social media marketing strategy.

This article is a variation of a version originally published on Social Media Today.

Colors have a huge generally consistent impact on the emotions we feel. For example, rare is the country where a stop sign is green and in few places will they paint a room meant for relaxation in shades of red.

As we come to understand more about how emotions work, it has become possible to use them to send signals about a message’s intentions and emotional load simply by focusing on the color that we use in it. This can be an incredibly effective and powerful method to draw attention where it’s necessary.

It does not end there, however, as it has also been discovered that some colors are preferred by some kinds of people. Of course, this isn’t true of all of the people of that group, but as long as it’s true of more people than it’s not, you can use the right color pallets to draw the right audiences to your messages.

So that’s the general gist of it. Later, we'll discuss how you can use color to help your social media strategy. But first, let’s look at the effects different colors have on psychology.

The Colors and Their Effect

Red. This color creates urgency in people. That’s why it’s often used in sales signs and clearance sales. It says ‘buy this now or it will be gone’. It is also a color that encourages people’s appetites, which means its well suited to some kinds of restaurants – particularly ones where there is a through flow of many customers.

Do note, red also has certain physiological effects, pushing up the heart rate and making people more action oriented. So bear this in mind. Do you want people to take action? Then red is a good choice. Is it more about contemplation and thought? Then you might want to choose a different color for you social media strategy.

Blue. Did you know blue is the preferred color for men? No, not red. Possibly that most of us believe this is down to the natural stereotyping we tend to do. Blue is associated with tranquil feelings as well as reliability. It makes us feel secure and also boost security.

It’s not exactly an exciting color, however. For that reason it’s more suitable for conservative brands who want to inspire trust rather than create a strong emotional reaction.

Green. The color of nature has some serious impacts on our physiology. It makes us feel more at ease and relaxed. Of course, as it’s associated with nature it is often an implicit signal for environmental concerns and can’t be left out of any attempt to burnish green credentials.  There is a connection with harmony as well. Note that green in plant form can be even more effective.

Purple. The color of royalty and wisdom, purple can make us more creative, better at solving problems and creates a certain element of desirability. This is why we so often see it beauty products as well as in anti-aging. It can also be used to create a certain amount of sophistication in your brand if used correctly.

Orange and Yellow. These are optimistic colors which are often seen as cheerful and happy. Do note, they do have undertones that you need to be careful of. They can be too bright, for example and too present which can make a space that incorporates these colors unpleasant to stay in for long periods of time.

As these colors have an element of happy go lucky, they can be effectively used to draw in people who are meant to impulse buy products. In that case it naturally works better for smaller purchases as the more money people are likely to spend, the harder it becomes to get them to buy on a whim.

Black. Power, authority and – of course – also associated with depression, black is best used in small amounts to highlight other colors. If used too much it can push people away as it becomes overbearing. Still, it should not be ignored entirely as it has been associated with intelligence, which can be a useful undertone to have to your brand.

Grey. Associated with growing older, this color is often associated both with practicality and solidary. Of course, it’s also a ‘meh’ color, in that it doesn’t evoke much than that. It’s neither lively, nor very present. It’s kind of in between and can therefore leave your audience in a similar state of mind if used overly much.

For that reason, it’s often better used as s support color with something more lively taking poll position. For example, if used with yellows, oranges and red it can signal excitement and dependability.

White. On its own, white can signal both purity and innocence as well as cleanliness and safety. Used with other colors, its role changes slightly, with it often taking on the role of the absence of color or negative space. What that means is that instead of drawing attention to itself, it can often be used to emphasize other elements.

So, for example, words with white space around them naturally draw more attention than ones without them. In this way, white is often best implemented as a way of making other colors pop more.

How to Use Color Theory on Social Media

Though it is certainly possible to use one color on its own, generally it is advisable to use a few more in combination. After all, some colors – at outlined above – can be eyesores if overused, but can work exceedingly well if only used to accent or draw attention.

What’s more, by using colors and also positioning to best effect, it becomes possible to tell a complicated message with the colors of your brand slipping a certain idea about your brand into their minds without them objecting to it as they might if it was written in words or presented as an argument. This type of signaling is known as a peripheral route to persuasion.

Even better, as we are naturally drawn to colors which emphasize what we feel is important to the world, by using the right types of color on your website you can make sure people pay attention that are more likely to actually be interested in what you’ve got to say.

Practices to Implement Color in Your Social Media

Well, obviously it starts with the images that you use on your social media. If you can find ways to actually include the colors that signal the moods and ideas you want to, this will naturally tell a story. But that’s hardly the only way to introduce certain colors into your posts.

For example, by creating a border that has certain colors that best represent your brand and putting those around the edges of images, you can both create a sense of ownership with readers automatically knowing this this content is yours, as well as signal the intended audience that this is meant for them. Similarly, by watermarking your pictures with a certain color and symbol you can do very much the same thing.

Even better, it’s often possible now to color your posts in certain ways to draw attention. This can both help you create a more effective messages, as well as allowing you to experiment. It should is relatively simple to create an A/B test using different colors on your audience while holding all other aspects the same.

In this way, you will quickly be able to figure out what colors actually work best for your audience.

Study the Competition

Another important facet of deciding what colors to use for you social media is knowing what the competition is doing. Through the colors they use they are signaling to which audiences they wish to appeal. This can be hugely informative. What’s more, it should also give you some ideas what parts of the market they have decided not to focus on and which are therefore still available for you to move into.

Remember, choosing colors isn’t just about creating your own contrast, but also about creating contrast between yourself and your competition. If your color pallet is often the same as theirs, then this will not offer them an opportunity to differentiate easily between you and everybody else.

For that reason, don’t be afraid to experiment. Dare to use a splash of color that your competition is less inclined to use. Particularly if that color stands in strong contrast to what they’re doing, this can create an easy way for audiences to know who you are almost instantly.

Last Words

We’re visual creatures. Color is incredibly important to us and has all kinds of effects on our minds. It is therefore incredibly important that you understand what your colors are saying about your brand and its social media presence. Otherwise, it’s entirely possible you’ll end up signaling things that you never meant to.

And sure, your audience might not be consciously picking up on them, but most of our decisions aren’t actually made consciously. We often rely on auto pilot to make decisions about what we will buy and who we will buy it from. That means that many of your arguments have to be made at the level of those systems which make those decisions. Choosing the right colors for your social media strategy can help you do exactly that.

Do you find it difficult to keep up with the changing social media marketing scenario to grab user attention and get more leads? Would you like to know how the successful social media marketers manage to reap the best results. If you are so keen about knowing the nuances of the new-age digital marketing techniques, especially social media marketing strategies, here we have compiled four tips gained through intensive interviews with the world's top social media experts of the times.

This guide will help you to revamp your outlook about social media marketing and come up with a better, result-oriented social media approach to success. These are the latest of its kind, and many of them may be new to you.

SMM tip #1: Get more lead using ‘Facebook Offers.'

‘Facebook Offers' is a brand new offering from the provider, which you need to undoubtedly try out if you are trying to attract more quality leads through social media. A typical Facebook Offer is another form of Facebook Ad, but it works differently than the conventional ads. Marketers can try setting them up directly on your FB page and not the dashboard at Ads. These offers can be created not only for the online but also for offline businesses too.

Facebook Offers can be used for any different promotional activities, but the best output is noted when it is used for quality lead generation.

That is how Facebook Offers work:

SMM tip #2: Engaging your email subscribers through social media

It is found that efficiently engaging with your loyal e-mail subscribers can bring in more results, which can be done at best now through social media. This concept was first introduced in the Web Traffic & Conversion Summit held in San Francisco. Many of the marketers use social media to get new leads, which is of course there, but the scope of using social media to build a lasting relationship with the existing subscribers is not tapped fully.

To do this well, you can first set up an auto-responder mailer to invite the new subscribers to access and like you on Facebook or follow you on Instagram. It is not as easy as you think. To get a good response, you need to make them understand why they should follow you, what the benefits they get out of it, and should also be reminded about it consistently.

One thing to remember at the first point when you deal with the audience is that you have to always ensure quality over quantity.

Debt relief is a crucial task when it comes to doing proper financial management of your business, which unfortunately many fail to accomplish correctly. Many times, it is the ignorance of appropriate debt management practices and also the inability to foresee the financial difficulties it can bring forth on a long run, leads to improper debt management. Agencies can offer ideal support and advice in this regard for the small to medium-scale business owners too much efficiently take care of their debt and get rid of the chaos.

SMM tip #3: Combine various marketing channels to ensure best results

In the fast-changing social media marketing scenario, it is more strategic to combine the best of various digital marketing approaches to build a perpetual promotion method which works. If you are connecting the best strategies such as search engine optimization, organic and paid social media marketing, search engine advertising, Google remarketing, then you may be probably tapping the best of everything.

You can use Facebook to raise consumer awareness about your new business or product, try plucking the low-hanging fruits by buying keywords on Google, and also can ensure that people reach to you through channels like Google remarketing, and Facebook fan base.

However, many of the marketers are weak at or not careful enough about analytics. They visually find Google better than Facebook or Facebook than Pinterest. When it comes to taking critical marketing decisions, it is essential to do some fundamental research to identify the actual worthiness of different channels and the return on investment each of them may bring in.

SMM tip #4: Connect virtually

Every marketer knows the fact that connecting face to face is the most reliable connection with a potential consumer. When it happens online, it is so when you get to communicate with someone in person. It can either be organization a Tweetup or meet up with a close group or scheduling a Skype chat with an individual.

One of the best platforms is the Google Hangout, where you can connect with similar-minded people who share the same interest. You need to try and organize a dedicated Google+ Hangout channel with like-minded people who have interest in connecting with you. If you go ahead of the goal of connecting personally, the virtual meetings can also help spark some better ideas which you find a strong link to the next big thing you can think of.

The above four tips are just a sampling of what to come next in the constantly changing platform of social media marketing. Perhaps one of the greatest tips of all is that changes will happen every day every hour, which you need to be prepared for to gain the best out of social media marketing for your business.

Just like society at large, social networks are a space where individuals tend to act in particular, more or less clearly defined ways. The predictable nature of their behavior makes people susceptible to influence of others, and sometimes the desired action we are goaded to take is paying attention to specific brands. This insight lies in the core of every marketing strategy ever developed, including those which are used online on social networks. All marketing uses psychology in one way or another. Therefore, social media marketing relies on understanding the psychology of social media users in order to promote services, products and the brands that lie behind them.

Just like there are different theories of marketing, there are multiple approaches in psychology, each of which has a slightly different view on what drives people to behave in the ways they do. While all marketing has a psychological basis, this does not mean that each particular marketing campaign employs the same exact psychological principles. In order to give you an idea on what kind of effects particular psychological propositions can have on social media marketing, we have created the following non-exhaustive list.

Social Proof Is All You Need

Social proof is a cognitive bias that states that you are more likely to do something if you see that others are doing it. It is based on the assumption that people around have a better understanding of the circumstances you have found yourself in, so it makes sense to follow their lead. An example of social proof in marketing is when companies display testimonials from their customers, or reviews from celebrities in order to establish credibility. Quoting media outlets has also been proven to be an effective strategy for increasing engagement among social media users. If you have another content delivery platform such as a website or a blog, adding a social media share counter next to your content is quick and dirty way to leverage social proof for your business. Additionally, social media share buttons are a way of turning new customers into vehicles for future social proofing.

Emotions Are Contagious, Spread Them Around

The phenomenon of content going viral is a great example of the way emotions tend to spread. If something causes intense feelings to arise in us, chances are we are going to share our experience. And social media are the perfect place to keep people up to date about how feel, especially if we are happy, in pain, or excited. Social media content that elicits stronger emotions such as these tends to get shared more often and networks such as Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. Among the common emotional responses, which include happiness, sadness, anger and fear, statistics show that happiness has more potential to go viral than negative emotions. So make sure to have a handy supply of content that tugs at the heart-strings.

Make Them Fear Missing Out

The fear that we are missing out on what is going on social media is a phenomenon that is proven to exist. In fact, almost everyone has a friend who takes his social media consumption a bit too far for fear of being left outside the loop. The basis for this kind of behavior is the fact that we tend to experience feelings of anxiety and unease when we think about how other people are doing interesting things without us. So we try to constantly be up-to-date with what is going on, ensuring we wont miss out on a funny new meme or a video that went viral. This tendency to constantly check our social media feeds is what makes fear of missing out (FOMO) a powerful marketing tool, when used appropriately. Instead of only promoting the benefits of purchasing your product or service, try to show your customers what would happen if they decide to not respond to your sales pitch.

Let Influencers Influence

Having your sales pitch come from the mouth of an authority has always been a staple of web marketing campaigns. How to you build authority for your brand? Start by associating with individuals that your target demographic already seems to trust. Proceed further by developing relationships with influencers who can leverage their followers to create credibility for your product or service. These people promote themselves by engaging with niche audiences via social media outlets. This psychological benefit of authority is the fact that people respond better to actions of people who they admire. In order to effectively build relationships with influencers, start by sharing their content on various social media channels. Then follow this up by letting them know about what you are trying to do, and offer them a deal to start promoting your brand for benefits such as freebies, additional followers, media coverage, or inclusion on your payroll.

Conclusion

Using psychology in your social media marketing campaign is not as difficult as it sounds at the outset. It is a simple matter of applying scientific principles such as ones we have outlined above. There are also many more to consider, for businesses that want do dive a bit deeper. Psychology is a powerful method for understanding how your audience behaves, so use it to its full extent when developing your marketing strategy.

Chloe Smith is a cycling enthusiast and a part-time writer always willing to share tidbits of advice. She believes that passion, courage and, above all, knowledge breed success. When she’s not working, she’s probably somewhere cuddled up with a good book, and a cup of lemongrass tea (or more honestly binge-watching the newest Netflix hit show).

Social media marketing is more than just updating your Facebook status and uploading your selfie on Instagram. It is a robust platform for interaction between several brands, the brands, and their customers. Enterprises can effectively use social media platforms for gaining a distinct advantage in their competitive business strategies. Here are a few stats that show the reasons to leverage your social media strategy today:

Why opt for social media marketing strategies?

Social media is an intense game of statistics, strategies and marketing campaigns that can bring a brand recognition, dedicated customers, profits, valuable customer feedback and volumes of customer data. The most significant advantage of having a social media strategy is the amount of actionable data it generates. Companies often use CRM or Customer Relationship Management platforms to collect and organize this valuable data in the form of databases.
Data management is often daunting for new businesses since it requires expertise and experience. Often companies need the help of DBAs to manage their customer databases. Although in-house DBAs cost a bomb, their presence makes all the difference. Remote DBAs are often not as costly, but even their services require money.
Multiple SMEs and start-ups step back from database management services for fear of escalating costs and suffer more significant losses in terms of customer service and customer retention. In such cases, it is a smarter option for these companies to opt for consolidation loans and small business loans at amicable APRs and interest rates.
Here are the ways you can leverage your social media presence for the advantage of your brand as well:

Build a social strategy

Advertising strategies and marketing strategies can never replace a social strategy. A social media component in the list of other marketing and promotional strategies can provide critical information and data. The Social media practice is about engagement and communication across a platform. It is no longer just about posting and sharing, and not engaging with the followers.

According to experts, social media is communications, advertising, promotions, marketing and selling, all in one package. You need to get your own social media strategy for improving sales, increasing conversion rates, improving SERPs and improving customer experience. The best place to start is a social platform you are already comfortable with. Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter provide rewarding customer interaction experiences for all brands across the globe.

Create value across social media content

Social media is now all about creating value. It is rarely about populating the platform with a flood of posts of low quality. While building your social media strategy, you must remember that it is always quality over quantity. Target your posts towards specific markets and ensure that each one speaks a significant message.

You need to target your messages towards the readers. To engage your followers, en masse, you need to craft messages that are motivational, inspirational, informational or educational. For example – you can create a post about your new product. When you do so, include the details of the product in a smart and exciting infographic form. It will help you garner the attention of real followers.

Utilize the influencer powers

Each social media platform comes with their own set of social media influencers. These are the social celebrity accounts that have thousands and sometimes millions of followers. Social media influencers often endorse a brand or a particular kind of lifestyle. For example – one person with 100,000 followers may be vegan, a yoga lover, a meditation freak and a representative of cruelty-free, healthy living. Organic food labels or cruelty-free cosmetics labels can efficiently utilize their fame and followership to promote their products.

Your brand must always find an influencer that thinks alike to leverage the power of these influencers. Picking a social celebrity with followership that does not align with your target group can be problematic for your brand and your products. 92% of the customers trust the influencers more than the advertisements and promotions. 2018 is going to be a huge for all kinds of influencer marketing, and it is time you made a move towards finding your own brand influencer before your competitors hogged them all.

Respond and reward

While marketing on social media you need to understand that like all other human beings your social media followers would like to get some sweet attention. If you have noticed the latest trends on Facebook or Instagram, you must have realized that there is no better way to pay attention than to your followers and potential customers than to introduce competitions and a rewarding system. People between the ages of 55 and 64 are two times as likely to engage with your brand online.

Being responsive humanizes a brand and brings the users closer to the brand. It will help you galvanize your potential customers and push them further into your sales funnel. In fact creating a strong social media promotion campaign with proper content-rich posts, link building strategies and regular rewarding system for followers who participate in these competitions promote conversion rates. The easiest way to measure your ROI and increase in conversion rate is to couple a reliable conversion rate measurement tool with your social media strategies.

Believe in the 80-20 balance

The 80-20 balance is a simple dogma for all marketers old and new. Stick to non-promotional, educational and informational posts for 80% of your social media content. Engage people with interesting original content that brings the users close to your brand. Promote your brand and your products in only about 20% of your posts. The latter 20% of the posts should contain promotional links and CTAs to mobilize your target audience. Do not try to sell something to your followers with every post. It can become annoying and predictable for all your users.

Most importantly, if you want your social media strategies to work, focus on your mobile users. Mobile users have overtaken the number of desktop users back in 2017, and not paying attention to the mobile social media users is a huge mistake since 81% of all SMEs use social media for marketing and promotions. However, only about 20 of the Fortune 500 companies present on Facebook and Twitter engage with their customers. Social media is gradually replacing email and calls in the customer service domains with their prompt response times. Most SMEs and Start-ups are using Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn as their standard platforms for customer engagement.

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